Nicholas Hunt
A 12 months after Fox Information booted “straight information” anchor Martha MacCallum from the 7 p.m. time slot throughout a shakeup of the weekday lineup, the community lastly introduced on Monday that Jesse Watters would completely take over as host of the pivotal hour.
Fox Information Primetime, which is able to now be named Jesse Watters Primetime, has been manned by a collection of rotating (and competing) hosts over the previous 12 months. Apart from Watters, the hour-long opinion discuss present has been hosted by veteran Fox Information personalities akin to Maria Bartiromo and Brian Kilmeade, in addition to lesser-known contributors like Tammy Bruce and Ben Domenech.
Watters, who rose to fame at Fox Information for his ambush interviews on disgraced ex-host Invoice O’Reilly’s nightly present, has seen his star rise on the community in recent times. Not solely has he change into one of many common co-hosts of the top-rated late-afternoon roundtable present The 5 however he has additionally anchored his personal weekend present, Watters’ World, over the previous few years.
“I’m thrilled to tackle this new problem and am grateful for the chance,” Watters stated in a press release about his new gig. Jesse Watters Primetime will formally launch on Jan. 24.
The community touted the rankings of each of these exhibits when saying on Monday that Watters would now helm his personal weeknight present.
“Jesse’s versatility and internet hosting acumen has grown exponentially during the last 5 years, and he has developed a deep connection to the viewers via two hit exhibits The 5 and Watters’ World,” Fox Information CEO Suzanne Scott stated in a press release. “We look ahead to watching him increase his connection even additional via this new solo weeknight hour.”
Fox Information additionally famous that along with his new weeknight duties, Watters can be giving up Watters’ World and that a new 8 p.m. Saturday present can be introduced quickly. Watters, nevertheless, will stay a co-host of The 5 shifting ahead.
Watters has steadily courted controversy throughout his twenty years at Fox Information. He sparked intense backlash and requires his firing after a 2016 man-on-the-street sketch in Chinatown that featured blatantly racist stereotypes of Asian individuals, prompting him to supply a light apology.
Lately, high infectious illness knowledgeable Dr. Anthony Fauci stated Watters “needs to be fired on the spot” for urging Fox Information followers to “ambush” him on the road with “kill shot” questions. The community defended its star following backlash over his feedback, claiming it was “greater than clear” that Watters was “utilizing a metaphor for asking hard-hitting questions” and his “phrases have been twisted fully out of context.”